TJ Walker explains how to use props to make presentations more memorable and engaging. He advises first isolating the core idea, then choosing a prop that visually brings that idea to life (not just a gimmick), and illustrates the point with Steve Jobs' thin-laptop envelope demo and Bill Gates' mosquito-in-glass demo about malaria.
Chapters
What's the best way to use props in a presentation? Henry writes in. He's one of my online presentation training students over at the Udemy platform. He says, tj, what is the best way to use props to make my presentation more interesting to the audience? Well, Henry, first of all, I congratulate you for actually thinking about how to make your presentation more interesting to your audience. Too many speakers just go into every presentation with the attitude of here's all the data, here's all the stuff, here's all our marketing messages. Now how do I shove it down at people? So the fact that you're thinking about how not just to communicate more, but how to make it interesting is in and of itself an excellent indicator of your abilities and your potential as a speaker. What I would ask you to do, first of all is really isolate what is the core idea you're trying to communicate, and then just ask yourself, how can you visually make this come alive, be more interesting, more memorable, without just doing the simplest cut and paste of words or an Image on a PowerPoint slide? Now, I'm not anti PowerPoint, but you asked about props, and props can be much more powerful. Those of you who remember the first time the Air Mac was introduced by Steve Jobs at one of the Big Apple conventions, you may well remember, he says, how thin is this new laptop? He didn't then put up a slide that had the weight, the width, the specs. He didn't have fancy images of older, fatter computers in his new one. He just had someone walk out on the stage. This is in an envelope. But hand him an envelope. He says, it's this thin. And he pulled the new thin laptop from Apple out of an envelope. It was probably a 90 cent prop, but it just burned an image in people's memory of the this computer is really thin. Now, looking at other major computer companies, CEOs Bill Gates has gotten much better as a speaker as his career has gone on to new phases, I should say. And when talking about the problem of malaria all over the world, he actually brought in mosquitoes, had them under glass and opened it up in a room full of wealthy, successful people. That was a prop that got their attention. Now, these mosquitoes did not have malaria, but it really brought home his point of how easy it is to transmit malaria and the problems associated with malaria and mosquitoes. So ask yourself, first of all, what's the message? You don't want to just be using props. Be using props. You're not Carrot Top. You're not some comedian trying to get a gag. The driving point is the idea. Then just ask yourself what would make this idea more memorable if I didn't have words coming out of my mouth or words on the screen that will drive you to make some good selections in choosing props. Good luck.
